World Soccer Daily: 10 stories you need to read, 30th July, 2012

Racist Twit(terer) sent home

Switzerland’s Olympic football team has expelled defender Michel Morganella from the tournament after he posted racist comments on Twitter.

As reported on Monday, Morganella took to the social media airwaves to vent his frustration at Switzerland’s 2-1 defeat to South Korea.

“I made a huge mistake after a disappointing result,” said the 23-year-old.

I’m not sure describing an entire country as a “bunch of mentally handicapped retards!” can be brushed aside as a ‘mistake’, not the admission that he would like to ‘beat up all South Koreans’, but it will have to do for now.

“I wish to apologise to the people in South Korea and their team, but also to the Swiss delegation and Swiss football in general.”

It could have been worse, I suppose. He could have apologised to the people of North Korea.

Non racist Twit(terer) charged

Rio Ferdinand, who made the relatively harmless mistake of retweeting a comment about his former England team-mate, Ashely Cole, has been charged by the Football Association (FA) with improper conduct.

Cole appeared in court as a defence witness on behalf of Chelsea colleague, John Terry, who had been charged with using racially insulting language towards Ferdinand’s brother, Anton. A day after the verdict, Rio appeared to endorse a tweet describing Cole as a ”choc ice,” a term perceived as meaning black on the outside and white on the inside. Ferdinand tweeted: ”I hear you fella! Choc ice is classic hahahahahaha!!”

Still with me?

Ferdinand is now facing a fine or ban after being charged by the FA.

”The allegation is that the player acted in a way which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute by making comments which included a reference to ethnic origin and/or color and/or race,” the FA said in a statement.

Which strikes me as a preposterous charge. Ferxdinand could have tweeted ” I am black” and that too could be construed as “a reference to ethnic origin and/or color and/or race”.

Presumably, what we are seeing here is a cack-handed attempt by the FA to ‘even’ things up following their decision to charge Terry for the remarks he made to Anton Ferdinand. However, even the most blinkered of observers can see there is a huge distinction between the two remarks.

Ferdinand, as he must have felt most of the summer, is reported to be “dumbfounded” by the charge. And one can hardly blame him.

Goal of the day

It was only a friendly, but an impressive mazy run from Sergio Aguero, culminating in a clever dinked finish, set Manchester City on their way to a victory over Malaysia.

Quote of the day

“We will have a better team than Milan this season, for sure. Why? Because Milan have lost its two best players.”

Never one for false modesty (or real for that matter), new Paris Saint-Germain signing, Zlatan Ibrahimovic explains why his current side will be stronger than his former side.

To lose one car may be regarded as misfortune, to lose two…

Valencia’s Ever Banega has suffered car trouble on the way to training when his Ferrari burst into flames, forcing the midfielder to flee the burning wreckage.

Bizarrely, Banega was involved in a car-related incident in February this year that left him with a broken left ankle, tibia and fibula.

The Argentine international suffered the injury after leaving his car’s handbrake off, stepping out of the vehicle and seeing it roll backwards over his ankle.

The Valencia footballer has not played since then, though he hopes to be fit for the start of the season in August – car mishaps permitting.

Here’s his most recent scrape with danger.

And here’s the moment, earlier this year, after he was run over.

Fingers in the till

Marseille coach Elie Baup has promised to refund the unemployment benefits he received if found guilty of any wrong-doing.

On Monday, a judge in Toulouse charged the newly-appointed boss with claiming illegal benefits after he was sacked by Nantes in 2009.

Baup, who took charge of Marseille earlier in the month following Didier Deschamps’ resignation, is alleged to have not declared his earnings whilst claiming state unemployment benefits.

So, what kind of covert, underecover, black market work do you think Baup was undertaking away from the prying eyes of the benefits office? He became a pundit for French television channel Canal+. All of which gives credence to his explanation that this was all an innocent mistake.

“There was nothing intentional. I followed the advice of professionals in these matters.

“If a mistake was made, there will not be a problem for me to return the money.”

‘Not that type of player’

The agent of Liverpool midfielder, Charlie Adam, has reacted furiously to the claim made by Tottenham winger, Gareth Bale, that his client was a “coward”.

Wales international Bale was left on crutches at the weekend following a bad tackle from Adam during the 0-0 draw between the two sides in Baltimore.

Bale branded Adam “a bit of a coward” after the latest clash, but Adam’s representative, Kenny Moyes, was furious about the criticism his client received.

“It doesn’t warrant a reply because everyone knows Charlie is not that type of player. Everyone in football knows he has no malice or anything like that in him.”

Not that type of player?

This is the same Charlie Adam who attempted 62 tackles last season, and gave away 58 fouls. What kind of player is he then, blind? No, of course he isn’t, he is precisely that type of player.

“For someone to have a go like that is outrageous,” added Moyes. “It was schoolboyish for them to come out and say that.”

Oh please, spare us the faux outrage.

Sucker punch

FIFA has imposed a two-match ban on Colombia player Lady Andrade after United States forward Abby Wambach said she was struck in the face by her opponent in an Olympic match.

FIFA says its disciplinary committee suspended Andrade for a group match against France on Tuesday, and for the quarter-finals if Colombia advances.

Wambach went down after she was hit in the right eye by Andrade in the 39th minute of a 3-0 win over Colombia on Saturday.

After the game, Wambach called for FIFA to take action, while Andrade said it was “an accident.” And, no doubt, that she was not that kind of player.

Impending justice?

FIFA’s newly appointed corruption investigators have said they may begin probes into president Sepp Blatter and the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.

The news will be welcomed by those who had called for the new body to look retrospectively at cases where corruption had been suspected.

American attorney Michael Garcia and German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert are the men charged with rooting out corruption and the pair confirmed that the scope of their investigation is virtually unlimited.

Garcia said an investigation can be started into anything or anyone, “whether that is a particular World Cup or a particular person”.

“There are no limitations at all on what we will be looking at, it will be determined solely by what we perceive as evidence or suggestions or reasons to look further and that will be our guiding principle.”

“The scope of any investigation depends on facts and circumstances. There is no bright line in terms of past and future. If there is conduct in the past that warrants an investigation, I will do that.”

Eckert said he was confident that FIFA would provide the necessary funding for investigations, adding: “FIFA cannot afford to not give enough money.”

All of which will be greeted with relief by FIFA watchers, not to mention a sense of disbelief.

Thirty pieces of Silva

PSG centre-half Thiago Silva has made the rare admission by a footballer, claiming that he did not want to join his new club and was effectively told by his former club that he was no longer wanted.

Silva joined the French outfit from Milan earlier this month, along with team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic, in a joint deal thought to be worth around £55 million to the Serie A outfit.

It left Milan fans furiously demanding refunds on their season tickets, while Silva and Ibrahimovic have been labelled money grabbing mercenaries.

Ibrahimovic spouted the usual nonsense about this being a dream move, while Silva, clearly unhappy with the accusations, has attempted to appease Milan supporters, by revealing he was pressurised to leave and did so for the good of the club.

“I had made it very clear that I wanted to stay until the end of my contract, but I knew that Milan had financial difficulties,” Silva told Gazetta dello Sport.

“It would therefore have been difficult to stay. I would still be at Milan if it weren’t for their financial problems.

“I am not a mercenary. Milan was my home. They made a good deal, though. They signed me for €10 million and sold me for €42m.”

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